The gun-control debate

President Barack Obama has called for toughening America’s gun laws to confront mass shootings and everyday gun violence, betting that public opinion has shifted enough to support the broadest push for gun control in a generation.

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WEST HARTFORD, Conn. — With his proposed gun regulations in serious jeopardy, President Barack
Obama delivered an impassioned and urgent plea here last night for swift action, telling a state
still shaken by the Newtown school massacre, “We’ve got to expect more from Congress.”

The call for stricter gun laws — his most forceful yet — came in a campaign-style event in front
of several thousand people packed into the University of Hartford’s basketball arena. Obama
recalled December’s slaughter of 20 small children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School
as the toughest day of his presidency. “If we don’t respond to this,” he added, “that will be a
tough day for me, too.”

“We’ve got to expect more from ourselves,” he continued. “And we’ve got to expect more from
Congress. We’ve got to believe that, you know, well, every once in a while we set politics aside
and we just do what’s right.”

Obama, who met before his speech with parents of slain children, also vowed not to forget the
Connecticut slayings. He wore a green bracelet, while many in the audience wore green ribbons,
honoring the school’s colors.

“Newtown, we want you to know that we’re here with you,” Obama said. “We will not walk away from
the promises we’ve made. We are as determined as ever to do what must be done.”

The entreaty came as one of the nation’s most-committed gun-control proponents, New York Mayor
Michael Bloomberg, also prepared to ratchet up pressure on lawmakers with a new plan to grade them
based on their votes on gun issues.

The Bloomberg-financed Mayors Against Illegal Guns will launch a scoring system today to award
lawmakers grades of A through F, much like the National Rifle Association’s use of rankings
deployed against politicians at election time, according to details of the plan obtained by
The Washington Post.

The developments come at the start of a potentially decisive week for Obama’s agenda to toughen
the nation’s gun laws, with the Senate beginning to debate the proposals.

The president ticked through each of them during his Hartford speech, including universal
background checks and bans on assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines. He also
upbraided Senate Republicans for threatening to block a vote on the proposals. “All of them are
common sense,” Obama said. “All of them deserve a vote.”

The crowd cheered so loudly it was difficult at times to hear the president’s remarks. At one
point, people interrupted Obama with chants of “We want a vote!”

“If our democracy’s working the way it’s supposed to and 90 percent of the American people agree
on something, in the wake of a tragedy you’d think this would not be a heavy lift,” Obama said. “
And yet some folks back in Washington are already floating the idea that they may use political
stunts to prevent votes on any of these reforms.”

A growing coalition of Senate Republicans, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has
warned it would filibuster gun legislation, meaning any bill would require 60 votes to pass, rather
than a simple majority.

Obama, Bloomberg and other gun-control proponents are trying anew this week to translate popular
support for proposals such as background checks for all gun buyers into legislative momentum on
Capitol Hill.

Gun-control proponents are making Newtown victims the centerpiece of their lobbying efforts this
week. Eleven relatives of children who died at Sandy Hook flew to Washington with Obama aboard Air
Force One last night so they could attend meetings with key lawmakers today. Mayors Against Illegal
Guns will start airing a 60-second ad today featuring Neil Heslin, whose son, Jesse Lewis, was
killed at the school.

The Bloomberg group’s ratings system will grade lawmakers based on their votes on gun
legislation as well as their public statements, the group’s strategists said.